Ski bindings for use in cross-country skiing can already be obtained in the marketplace (see European Patent Office publication No. 0088673). The bearing block and receiving part are, in the known and comparable ski binding, two separate structural parts, namely a part which is secured to the ski by screws and a part which is hinged to the bearing block and on which the hook element is releasably secured. All together four structural parts must be manufactured for the known and comparable ski binding.
Other known ski bindings for use in cross-country skiing (see German OS No. 29 42 806 which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,833 and German Pat. No. 30 02 874 which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,611) have the disadvantage that the locking element is constructed as a hand lever, which both during a stepping of a skier into the binding and also during a stepping out of the binding can be pivoted only by a complete bending over of the skier. This, however, takes much effort, and in particular older persons at times have difficulty in bending over after long periods of cross-country skiing.
Finally, Austrian Pat. No. 371 016 (which corresponds partly to U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,259) describes a ski binding for use in cross-country skiing, in which the hook element is formed by the extended sole of the shoe. The ski binding has the disadvantage that the ski shoe must be guided in longitudinal direction of the ski into the bearing block which is secured on the ski, which can cause a sliding away of the ski during the stepping-in procedure.
The purpose of the invention is to overcome the disadvantages of all known designs and to provide a ski binding, in particular for use in cross-country skiing, in which the number of structural parts is reduced, in which not the receiving part, but the hook element makes possible the pivotal movement of the ski shoe needed for cross-country skiing.
The purpose is inventively attained by providing an elastic member between the ski shoe and a receiving part on a bearing block fastened to the ski. A separate receiving part and thus also a separate joint for same is no longer needed in this construction. Thus, not only the number of the structural parts is limited, but the entire design of the ski binding is simplified.
The hook element could actually--viewed from the side--have a rectangular form. For reasons of sturdiness, however, it has proven to be inventively advantageous to construct the hook element approximately O-shaped when viewed in a side view, and with the lower web member being connected to the shoe sole and the upper web member being connected to the tip of the shoe.
The possibility exists that at least the lower web member is constructed in one piece with the sole of the shoe. This makes a gluing of the lower web member to the shoe sole unnecessary, and the manufacture of the ski binding is thereby simplified.
Various possibilities are offered for the design of the locking element. A preferred embodiment is distinguished by the locking element being constructed approximately Z-shaped, with one leg of the Z being held by the bearing block, the intermediate web portion thereof having a locking protuberance thereon and the other leg functioning as an opening lever. It has been proven to be advantageous, when the elastic portion of the locking element extends between the leg which is secured to the bearing block and the intermediate web portion. This characteristic may make it possible to do without a separate spring for urging the locking element into the locking position.
In another embodiment, the locking element is constructed as a two-arm lever, one lever arm of which has the locking protuberance thereon and the other lever arm of which engages the spring. The locking element is supported on the bearing block. In this embodiment, the locking element can have a spur which grips beneath the shoe sole. This enables both a stepping into the binding and also a stepping out of the binding to be made easier.